Field
The present specification generally relates to methods of fabricating glass articles and, more particularly, methods of fabricating glass articles by creating laser damage regions and preferentially etching the laser damage regions.
Technical Background
Glass articles are used in a variety of industries, including the electronics industry where glass is used to cover displays devices. Examples of such display devices include Liquid Crystal Displays and Light Emitting Diode displays, for example, computer monitors, televisions, and handheld devices. Three-dimensional glass articles are increasingly being used for their aesthetically pleasing appearance and tactile feel. However, meeting low dimensional tolerances, particularly with shaped glass, is challenging because the glass has dimensional deformation during reforming, annealing, and chemical strengthening. Additionally, traditional computer numerical control (“CNC”) machining methods used to create through-features such as holes, if performed prior to reforming, will cause non-uniform heating during glass reforming that may lead to waviness of the surface of the glass article and undesired deformation.